Newer catalogs don't work in older LR versions?

[ktankphoto]

So apparently a catalog that has been upgraded to LR Classic CC will not work in any older version of LR.

Therefore sharing catalogs from here on out that I've edited for others will no longer work if they haven't upgraded yet? 
If that's true, that's a disappointment.  If there is a way for a newer catalog to be compatible in an older LR, please let me know how to make it work.

Thank you.

[JP Hess]

The short answer to that question is that there is no way.

[ktankphoto]

I was afraid of that.  I can't imagine why that would be smart.  Newer files in a variety of programs are compatible with older versions (within reason).  This is another misstep for Adobe on this Lightroom upgrade in my opinion.

[JP Hess]

This is not something unique to this upgrade. The catalog is a database. The engine that drives the database is updated whenever Lightroom is upgraded, and every new upgrade has required an upgrade of the catalog. It's unfortunate that you were unaware of this.

[ktankphoto]

Actually I edit in catalogs for someone else.  She was using LR 2015 until last night.  I've been using the most recent version of CC (I update regularly) until last week when I reformatted my computer and installed LR Classic CC.  In any update I've had, I've never been asked to upgrade my catalog upon import (perhaps it does it automatically) until this release.  Once I complete the edits, I send the catalog back and she hasn't had any issues opening it.  This is the first upgrade that has not allowed use of the newer catalog in the older version of Lightroom. 

So in theory, maybe you and ManiacJoe are correct however in our case with two people editing in the same catalog, it has worked fine on different software versions. 

I am a Lighroom user for about 10 years now and while there is always something new to learn, this was not expected to be an issue since it has never happened before and that's what I found unfortunate.

[ManiacJoe]

Older software always has problems with newer file formats.

The newer versions of LR always migrate the old format databases to the new format database. (4 to 5, 5 to 6, 6 to 7)

[atbattson1]

At work I have Lightroom CC Classic but at home I cannot afford the update (relentlessly paying $10 a month till the end of my life) for myself so I am still on Lightroom 6. I have found that in CC one can create the XMP sidecar files. Then copy and share those. Then in Lightroom 6 as long as I have the negatives/RAW files I can throw the XMP files in the same folder and have lightroom Sync the folder again. Then the XMP info is applied to the RAW file in Lightroom. Thank god. Although I imagine after reading this Adobe will make an upgrade to change some small part of the XMP file and make this work around impossible too. Hell bent on month payments me thinks. 

[alice_0322]

I'm encountering a similar issue. I use Lightroom Classic through a work account but our company is running Windows 10 so I can't upgrade from Lightroom 12 to Lightroom 13 and I need to work with a bunch of photos that were keyworded and edited through Lightroom 13: I was really hoping there was some way to open the Lightroom 13 catalog on my personal PC and re-export it in someway that would be backwards compatible. A company wide Windows upgrade is not in the cards 😞

[dj_paige]

As stated in this thread above, a catalog created in newer version of LrC cannot be opened in older versions of LrC.

You can have LrC 13 write the keywords and edits to .xmp and then those should be readable by LrC 12 (provided that the LrC 13 edits did not use features that are not present in LrC 12).